Marie-Jean Herault de Sechelles

Marie-Jean Herault de Sechelles (20 September 1759-5 April 1794) was a judge and politician of the French Republic. He was an ally of Georges Danton, and was executed on the same day.

Biography
Marie-Jean Herault de Sechelles was born on 20 September 1759 in Paris to a well-known noble family: his grandfather Jean Moreau de Sechelles was the explorer of the Seychelles archipelago off the coast of French Madagascar in Africa. Marie-Jean became a lawyer at Le Grand Chatelet in Paris and became King's Advocate there in 1779 at the age of 20. However, Herault became a proponent of the French Revolution and on 14 July 1789 he took part in the storming of the Bastille. In 1792 Herault was made the deputy for Seine-et-Oise in the National Convention and organized the department of Mont Blanc during the trial of King Louis XVI of France for treason; although absent during the vote, he endorsed his execution.

However, Herault soon earned the scorn of the Jacobin Club of Maximilien Robespierre. He pleaded for French troops to retreat during the assault on the Girondins on 2 June 1793 and was held in suspicion by other members of the Committee of Public Safety. On 5 April 1794 he was executed alongside Georges Danton, Francois Joseph Westermann, Camille Desmoulins, Pierre Philippeaux, and Philippe Fabre d'Eglantine.